


How to Fix a Leak

by lazygaze



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Coming Out, Established Relationship, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Miya Osamu/Suna Rintarou, Post-Time Skip, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:55:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28707765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazygaze/pseuds/lazygaze
Summary: Atsumu’s perfectly fine hiding his relationship with Kiyoomi for the rest of his life. He never has to worry about the reaction he’ll get when he comes out to his family, he doesn’t have to disappoint his loyal fan girls, and he enjoys not having a hundred and one interview questions about his romantic relationship.But then one of his nudes gets leaked, and it’s clear he’s screwing a guy.
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 258
Collections: ~SakuAtsu~





	How to Fix a Leak

It’s not Atsumu’s fault, alright? When your boyfriend gets horny, what is there to do besides send them a nice picture of yourself naked, drooling down your chin, with a hand pulling apart your asscheeks? Was he just supposed to wait for him to come home? C’mon.

Sakusa Kiyoomi was out of town. Whenever January rolls around, each player gets to pick their five days of vacation time in advance. Game season is off limits, for obvious reasons, so they can only pick their days off for practice season, which spans the months of June-February.

Kiyoomi chose, way back in January, that he’d take five consecutive days off in October to visit his family. This was before he was dating Atsumu; if they were in a relationship at the time, they’d probably have chosen to take their days off together to spend some time with each other outside the gym. Kiyoomi didn’t really care that much to go see his family, he wasn’t very close with any of them, save for Komori. But the vacation days were there, so back in January, he decided there was nothing better to do than spend some time with them.

According to Kiyoomi, it was hell. “It’s so unbelievably awkward”, he recalled to Atsumu on a phone call during night one of Kiyoomi Being Away. He hadn’t seen his parents for so long that he could hardly remember how to talk to them. Their dynamic was never _great_ , but now it was off even more. 

On the second day of Kiyoomi Being Away, he told Atsumu about how he went to brunch with his parents and older sister, which was spent mostly in silence. He then hung out with Komori all afternoon, tossing a volleyball back and forth and complaining about their family.

On the third day of Kiyoomi Being Away, he expressed to Atsumu over text how excited he was to eventually marry into the Miya family. It shocked Atsumu; Kiyoomi wasn’t one to talk about their future that much, which is probably why he ended up doing it over text. He talked about how he was excited to have a second chance at a family, one that actually feels how a family should.

Then he started talking about how much he missed Atsumu. How he missed his smile, his laugh, the way his brows furrowed when he got frustrated and the way he moaned when three fingers were stuck up his ass. How much he missed the way he felt, his skin, his mouth, his dick when it grinded against Kiyoomi’s.

So, Atsumu sent him a nude. Whatever, right? Couples do it all the time. His face was in the foreground, eyes wide and pleading, mouth hung open like a dog after a long walk in the hot sun. His phone was angled so that you could see the rest of his body, back in the middleground and ass up in the background. His left hand was spreading his cheeks while the right was taking the picture, and a simple Snapchat caption adorned the photo with the sentence “i want u inside me soooo bad rn.”

It did the trick for the night. Kiyoomi went into detail about how he wanted to fuck Atsumu, Atsumu gave him replies of “fuck yeah”, “omg really?”, and “can't wait for u to do it to me back @ home”, they both came, said their good nights, turned their phones off, and that was that.

Now, a few weeks later, Atsumu’s nude is plastered all over social media. It’s the first picture Atsumu has ever had leaked.

“Holy fuck,” Atsumu says, scrolling through the trending hashtag “#miyaleakedparty” to see the same picture of him spreading his ass over and over with various comments being tweeted along with it. “There’s no coming back from this.”

Kiyoomi lays down next to Atsumu on the bed. “Why,” he starts, hands dragging down his face, “would you ever save your _own_ nude?!”

“Excuse me if I thought I looked _good,_ Omi!”

“It wasn’t even your best work.”

Atsumu huffs, and throws his phone down next to him on the bed in their little shared dorm. Technically, it was only _Atsumu’s_ dorm, but Kiyoomi never used his own. He always hung out in Atsumu’s anyway, so they unofficially named it “theirs”.

“Hey,” Kiyoomi says, leaning over to kiss Atsumu’s cheek before crawling on top of him and kissing all over his face.

He peppers a few kisses on the freckles that adorn Atsumu’s cheeks. “It’s okay,” a kiss on the lips, “it’ll pass. Besides, you’ve always been proud of your body. You’ve done tons of Calvin Klein ads. Why is this worrying you so much?”

Atsumu looks up at him, unimpressed, tilting his head in a way to say ‘don’t play dumb, you know.’

“Are you scared of people knowing you’re gay?”

Atsumu nods.

“Remember when Bokuto came out? He’s doing fine.” Kiyoomi pushes himself up and crawls on top of Atsumu, continuing to leave light kisses on his jaw before working his lips on his neck.  
  
“Yeah, and then he got brutally reprimanded for it from our PR team.”

“Hmm,” Kiyoomi bites down right in the crook of his neck.

“And he wouldn’t stop dwellin’ on all the shit he got for it. You saw what everyone said on Twitter! People are fuckin’ creul, even if they say they’re ‘fans’.”

Kiyoomi nips at Atsumu’s collarbone. “He ended up fine.”  
  
“Can you stop, Omi?”

Kiyoomi lifts his head from where he was biting on Atsumu’s skin, eyebrows stringing together in confusion.

“I’m not in the mood, a’ight? I’m serious, this is really botherin’ me. Can ya at least pretend to care and forego the half assed fuckin’ responses maybe?” Atsumu says, pushing on Kiyoomi to roll him back off of him.

Kiyoomi scoffs. He was never the best at giving advice. Granted, he wasn’t the best at physicality, either, but he was always willing to try for Atsumu. Being the one to initiate touch was always hard for him, and Atsumu knew that. Being rejected after being the one to initiate physical affection was even harder than just the initiation part. Still, he accepts his place on his side of the bed, but he turns his body away from Atsumu.

Atsumu sighs. “I’m sorry, baby. I know you’re trying to help,” he speaks to his back, but Kiyoomi refuses to turn around. “I’m just scared, okay?”

“Scared of what, Miya?” Damn. Last name? Ouch. “Scared of people knowing you’re dating me? Are you embarrassed?”

“That’s not it, Omi. You know that’s not what it is.” Kiyoomi keeps silent. “Don’t be difficult. God, _please_ don’t be mad at me right now. I can’t handle the release of this fuckin’ picture _and_ you being upset at me at the same time.”

Kiyoomi turns about half way, staring at the ceiling, refusing to meet Atsumu’s gaze. “Sorry,” he mumbles, before turning himself all the way. “But seriously, why do you care so much?”

Atsumu sighs, bending his arm and propping his head up with his hand as he stares at his boyfriend. “I don’t know, it’s just… I like… I’m not _embarrassed_ , it’s just that, I don’t want people to know I’m gay.”

“Who cares?”

“ _I_ do, Kiyoomi! And my whole family! Look, when ‘Samu came out, it wasn’t exactly pretty, okay? Swear, my folks didn’t talk to him for _weeks_. Wouldn’t even call ‘im down for dinner or anythin’. I actually think that’s why he’s so good at what he does: man had to make his own fuckin’ food for his entire week of exile.”

Kiyoomi reaches over to rub his thumb against Atsumu’s brow, a second attempt at calming him down. This time, he’s more successful, evident by the way Atsumu’s eyes soften.  
  
“You don’t want to disappoint them,” Kiyoomi says.

“Yeah. Them, or- or anyone else,” Atsumu replies.

“Who else matters?”  
  
“I don’t know. My fans? Bokkun lost quite a few ‘loyal’ supporters, turned their whole backs on the guy. Sent him hate messages. I dunno Omi, that’s a lot to take. I could tell how much it really affected him, and… I’m scared I won’t be as strong as he is.” His voice wobbles at the end of his sentence.

Kiyoomi moves from tracing his thumb along his brow to caressing his cheek with the backside of his hand. “Shh, shh. I get it. It’s okay. Don’t cry, don’t cry.”

Atsumu swats his hand away. “Ugh, don’t go all soft on me,” he says, reaching up his own hands to wipe at his eyes. “It’s so weird when you do that.”

Kiyoomi lets out a quick breath from his nose. “Would you rather have me listen? And you talk?”

“I’m not sure if I really want to talk anymore,” Atsumu says, closing his eyes. Kiyoomi briefly turns his body away from him to turn off the lamp on the bedside table. They lay in the darkness for a few seconds, before Atsumu wraps his arms around Kiyoomi and nuzzles his face into his chest. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want _you_ to talk. I really want you to talk, actually. I don’t want to think about the photo. I don’t want to think about what could happen if we were outed.”

Kiyoomi presses a soft kiss to Atsumu’s head. He quickly thinks up something to talk about to help distract Atsumu. “I fell for you first. Did you know that?”

“Nah,” Atsumu says. “I definitely liked you before you liked me.”

“Hm. Maybe, but I doubt it. I doubt you even remember the time that I realized I first had feelings for you, but I remember it so clearly. It was at the youth training camp. You patted me on the back after I spiked one of your sets. It was the first time someone had acted so casual with me. Usually, I’d _hate_ physical contact with a stranger, but for some reason, I didn’t mind it with you. It was like when you hit me on the back, you gave me feelings for you through, like, heat radiation or something.”

Atsumu chuckles, and his head lolls to the side to rest on Kiyoomi’s shoulder. 

“And then I was always so excited to catch a glimpse of you at Nationals, and at following training camps to come. I think I fell in love with you at first sight, seriously.”

“Hm.”

At Atsumu’s hum, Kiyoomi looks over to see him, eyes closed, breaths even. “That'll do it,” he whispers to himself. He gives Atsumu one kiss on the forehead, and then leans over to turn off the lights. Atsumu is already half way asleep. Good.

  
  
  


At practice the next day, Atsumu hardly even gets a foot in the door before Coach Foster is speed walking up to him and shoving his phone screen in his face. “What the hell is this?” He asks.

“Whatdya mean, Coach?” Atsumu asks, giggling, trying to mask the fear in his voice. “It’s just a picture. It’ll blow over,” he says, waving his hand.

“‘Blow over’? You can’t be serious. Miya, I don’t know if you realize this, but this is a professional team you’re on here. This won’t fly.”

“Well what the hell do you want me to do about it!?” Atsumu yells in frustration. His eyes bug out of his skull, and his cheeks heat up with anger.

“‘Tsumu, calm down,” Kiyoomi says, placing his hand on Atsumu’s shoulder.

Atsumu throws it off. “Don’t tell me to calm down when you’re not the one who has to deal with their ass being plastered everywhere!”

“Hey, don’t get mad at _me_ now.”

“Guys, can we, like, play some volleyball?” Bokuto asks from behind Foster, arms crossed over a volleyball that clings to his chest.

“No,” Atsumu and Kiyoomi say in unison, turning to Bokuto before turning back at each other.

“When we talked last night you were fine about everything, why are you getting all riled up again?” Kiyoomi asks.

“Because. It’s. Humiliating.” Atsumu says, pausing at each word as if Kiyoomi is too dense to understand.

“Dont. Talk. To. Me. Like. This. I’m. Not. A. Baby. Besides, you were okay with it all yesterday.”

“Well today isn’t yesterday, now is it? Maybe I was okay with my fuckin’ nudes getting leaked _yesterday_ , Omi, but newsflash, feelings change. Maybe I don’t like the whole world knowing what I look like when I’m attempting to be seductive, okay?”

“Alright, I didn’t mean to start this,” Foster says. “Bokuto’s right, let’s go play some volleyball, okay? Let’s get on the court.”

When Atsumu doesn’t follow Kiyoomi as he starts walking towards the court, he turns around, seeing Atsumu frozen in place.

“No,” Atsumu says.

There’s a second of silence before Foster replies. “... What?”

“No,” Atsumu repeats again. “I’m not playin’ with you guys when yer all…” he pauses, looking at his teammates around the room who all dawn confused looks on their faces. He moves his hands wildly in all different directions to gesture towards the whole room. “Judging me! Unfairly!”

“‘Tsum-Tsum, nobody is judging you!” Hinata chimes in.

“Bullshit!”

“‘Tsum, this is really embarrassing for you,” Inunaki says.

“Whatever. I’m not playing, yer all making me feel like shit for something that wasn’t even my fault.”

“If you’re not going to play,” Coach Foster says, “then leave.” Atsumu’s eyes widen in shock. For some reason, he really wasn’t expecting to just be thrown out of practice like this, despite his behavior. “Leave. And think about how you’re going to get yourself out of this mess.”

Atsumu stands there for a couple seconds, staring at Foster in disbelief. When he doesn’t say anything, gaze unwavering towards Atsumu, he starts to turn around, hesitates, then turns around completely, and leaves.

  
  
  


Osamu rubs circles into his brothers back as it shakes from the violent sobs erupting from him. 

“‘Tsumu, I don’t know why yer so worked up over this. I already assumed ya were into men, ya know. I mean, I’m into men, so you should be, too, right? Isn’t that, like, an identical twin thing or somethin’?”

Atsumu speaks between his tears: “I don’t think it’s a twin thing.”

“Well, in any case, those girls you were always datin’ in high school never seemed to do it for ya.”

Atsumu lifts his head from where it lays on his brother’s chest, looking him in the eye as he cries out “Osamu, I didn’t come here for you to tell me ya knew I was gay! The whole internet knows what I look like naked and if that’s not humiliating enough, they either know I’m bangin’ a dude or they think I’m into gettin’ pegged!”

When Atsumu throws his head back into his brother's chest, the door to the apartment bedroom slowly creaks open, and Rintarou walks in on the site. His eyes widen slightly in shock for a second, before his face turns into a look of amusement.

‘Is he okay?’ Rin mouths to Osamu, pointing at Atsumu.

‘No. Get out.’

Rin doesn’t move.

‘Babe. Get. Out. I’ll fill you in later,’ he tries to mouth, but it’s pretty much unreadable to Rin. He gets the idea, though, thanks to Osamu’s furious finger pointing at the door, that this isn’t something he should be watching unfold, so he rolls his eyes and closes the door behind him.

“Look, ‘Tsumu, I know our parents weren't very happy when I came out. I’m not gonna lie, they’re not gonna be happy with you either. I mean, yeah, they kinda stopped contacting me ever since I told them Rin and I were engaged-“

He paused in the middle of his speech to wipe away some of the tears on Atsumu’s cheek.

“-but it’s not like you aren’t gonna have any family anymore! Ya have me, right? Rin’s yer brother in law, ya got him too! And, ya know, ya got Sakusa.”

Atsumu’s crying gets softer at the mention of Kiyoomi’s name.

“I love him.”

“So ya don’t wanna lose him over somethin’ like this, right?”

Atsumu sniffles. “Right.”

They stay like that for a bit, Osamu just holding Atsumu in his arms, until the moment is broken through with a whisper from Atsumu. “How do I fix this?”

“You can say it was edited?”

He could. That'd probably be the best option. Then again, there's anxiety that creeps up his spine when he thinks about the possibility of his and Kiyoomi’s texts getting leaked as well, somehow, and perhaps, even their voice memos to one another. He doesn’t want to have to use the same excuse again.

“What if the person who leaked it gets mad. And then, what if they leak more stuff? I can’t just say it’s all edited, can I?”

He looks at his brother with pleading eyes. “I mean, you _can_ ,” Osamu says. “I’m not sure how believable it is.”

Atsumu sighs and rubs his eyes.

“Look, ‘Tsumu, I can feel your anxiety radiating off of you. If you’re so scared of being outed by someone else, why don’t you just do it yourself? Y’know, do it before someone else can.”

The words make fear shoot through Atsumu’s body like a knife. Upon hearing them, however, he knows it’s what he’ll end up needing to do. Though it might come with some consequences, it’ll ultimately end up soothing his anxiety for good.

Plus, there’s Kiyoomi to think about. There’s no way he’ll want to keep their relationship a secret forever. Atsumu already feels guilty enough for making him hide their relationship for this long. Kiyoomi does it all for Atsumu and his comfort, but he’s sure Kiyoomi doesn’t _enjoy_ hiding this part of himself.

He’ll need to come out, then.

Atsumu stays back at the Sunas' apartment for a few hours, until he knows practice is over. He’d stay for longer, if it wasn’t for Rintarou constantly bringing Atsumu’s nude up and making fun of some new aspect of it he finds funny. When Rin starts cackling at the line of drool hanging from his chin in the photo, Atsumu takes it as his cue to leave.

  
  
  


Atsumu doesn’t immediately start discussing coming out strategies with Kiyoomi as soon as he meets him back at his dorm. First of all, Atsumu is incredibly relieved to find Kiyoomi in his dorm in the first place, rather than spending the night in his own room. He’s so relieved, in fact, that he gets a little bit excited, and pounces on him almost instantly.

He grabs his face and smashes their lips together, earning a grunt from Kiyoomi. He licks into his mouth until Kiyoomi is moaning and grinding on him, and one thing leads to another, and suddenly Atsumu is sucking Kiyoomi off right by the door of his dorm.

He’s just so happy to see him. Kiyoomi can’t be that mad at him for earlier, then, right? That must be what this means. Of course, he’s going to want to talk this out with him, their fight and the fact that Atsumu actually left practice despite being the most passionate player on the team. They’ll definitely have to talk through Atsumu’s coming out, too, both how he decided to come to terms with the fact that he needs to and how he will do it.

Atsumu is so lost in his thoughts that he doesn’t even realize that he paused mid-suck until Kiyoomi’s length is softening against his tongue and being forcefully pulled out of his mouth.

Kiyoomi wordlessly tucks his dick back in his track pants before turning around and walking towards the bedroom, away from Atsumu, with a huff.

“Omi, come back,” Atsumu whines, but Kiyoomi doesn’t. Atsumu lets out a defeated sigh before getting back up on his feet and following his boyfriend.

In their bedroom, Kiyoomi sits on the foot of Atsumu’s bed. Atsumu walks over and sits next to Kiyoomi, and hugs him from the side.

“Mind telling me where you’ve been all day?” Kiyoomi asks. “You weren’t home when I got here, so…”

“I was at ‘Samu’s. We talked some things out.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“How I’m going to come out.”

Kiyoomi snaps his head towards Atsumu, who looks at him wearily. “You’re going to come out?”

“Better for _me_ to do it than for someone to leak more shit that’ll do it for me. And I’m sorry I got so angry with you earlier. I was… goin’ through it.”

Kiyoomi rolls his eyes. “It’s fine, I know you were just frustrated. But damn, it only took a nude getting leaked for you to finally do what I’ve been trying to get you comfortable with doing our whole relationship.”

Atsumu hangs his head down in guilt, but Kiyoomi lifts his chin up with his thumb and pointer finger. “Hey, I’m not upset. I’m glad you’re finally doing this. Are you sure?”

Atsumu shakes his head no. “But I think it’s the best option I have right now.”

Kiyoomi hums in agreement, then wraps his own arms around Atsumu. “Have you given it any thought on how you’re going to do it, yet?”

Atsumu shrugs. “Dunno.”

“Well,” Kiyoomi starts. “You’ve got a few options. We have a team interview next week. You can always just say it then.”

Atsumu grimaces in Kiyoomi’s hold. “No way. I don’t want to say something on the spot on live TV.”

“We can make a script?”

“Even worse. I’ll be so nervous I’ll forget my lines.”

Kiyoomi brings his hand up to comb his fingers through Atsumu’s fringe as he continues to ponder the best option for Atsumu. “What if we record a video of you saying it, and post it on Twitter or something?”

“Nah,” Atsumu says. “I’ll freak out right after it’s posted and I won’t be able to stop looking through the replies. I might even end up deleting it.”

“At least you’re honest.”

Kiyoomi presses a kiss to Atsumu’s temple. Atsumu always knew coming out was going to be difficult, but he didn’t realize the immense anxiety he would feel at even just _coming up_ with a way to tell the world he’s gay.

“What if I did it for you? I can post a picture of you on my Instagram. Say we’re dating,” Kiyoomi suggests.

“Ugh, please, no more pictures,” Atsumu says, and then lets out a frustrated sigh. He flops down on the bed, then turns over so he’s lying on his belly, and groans into the pillow. Kiyoomi lies down next to him and traces circles on his back.

“Alright, let’s put it to rest for the day. You don’t have to do anything right away. You’ll figure it out.”

Kiyoomi spends the rest of the evening tracing circles on Atsumu’s back until he hears quiet snores finally coming from him. They’ll discuss this more another time. For now, he lets Atsumu rest. He needs it.

  
  
  


Atsumu gives his coming out a lot of thought, and even gives it a few attempts. He starts with one of Kiyoomi’s suggestions, and tries filming a video, but as originally expected, it doesn’t work out:

“So, recently, a photo of me has been circlin’ round the internet,” Atsumu starts, staring into his phone camera that’s propped up on a couple of workout guide books. “I know yer all probably curious about the context, and uhh… well, I’m gay, and that was totally sent to my teammate, Sakusa Kiyoomi.” 

Atsumu rolls his eyes. “Fuckin’ stupid,” he says under his breath, and stops the video. Who the hell just says who they send their nudes to without the need?

The next thing he considers is contacting an interviewer for a private session where he can just talk, tell him what to put in the story and what to edit out. Then again, the thought of someone else writing his coming out rather than himself makes Atsumu nervous, so he decides to forego that idea as well.

His third attempt comes when Atsumu cracks open his notes app one night, back up against Kiyoomi’s chest as they spoon in their bed. He’s not exactly sure what to write; he starts with a straightforward first line of “I’m a homosexual” before groaning and turning off his phone.

“Like I said, youll figure it out,” Kiyoomi says from behind him.

“This is just so fuckin’ _aggrevating_ ,” Atsumu says. “I don’t even know why Coach is so fed up about this.”

“You could always just tell him.”

“Tell him what?”

“Tell him why you’re so frustrated with the whole thing. I mean, let’s be honest, the caption on that picture isn’t exactly vague. Everyone probably has their suspicions that you like men, including Foster. Why can’t you just explain that the idea of officially coming out and confirming everyone’s theories makes you nervous?”

Atsumu sighs and rolls around in Kiyoomi’s arms so that he’s facing him. “The thing is, I do want to come out, I just don’t know how. I don’t want to hide our relationship forever anymore, that’s fuckin’ unrealistic and it’s not fair to you. Plus, I see how happy Bokkun and Akaashi-kun look when they’re together and in public and I… I want that. Yeah, the initial shock of the public will probably suck and be hard to deal with, but I really don’t want to hide this part of myself anymore. I don’t want to hide _you_ anymore.” Kiyoomi wraps a leg around Atsumu, pulling him closer and into his chest. “I just wish I had more time. Coach wants this fixed as soon as possible, I’m sure, and I can’t have him staying angry at me.”

“Fuck what he wants,” Kiyoomi whispers. “This is your decision. It’s important to you. Take as much time as you need.” He presses their foreheads together, and nuzzles Atsumu’s nose with his own. “Get some sleep now, alright? We have a game tomorrow, and you can’t be tired. Think about all this another day.”

Atsumu grunts, but closes his eyes and feigns sleep anyway, just so Kiyoomi can get off his back. Really, he has no intentions of falling asleep: he plans to figure out how he’s going to come out to the world, and he wants to know what he’s doing as soon as possible.

Right. That was the plan, anyway. He falls asleep despite his wishes, and wakes up in the morning to the sound of his alarm, not one step closer to his goal of coming up with a plan than he was the night before. “Nooo,” he groans into the dark room, sun having yet to come up. Kiyoomi isn’t laying next to him anymore, but that’s to be expected: he’s always up and making breakfast for the both of them before Atsumu wakes on game days.

Atsumu trudges to the kitchen. “Well, good morning beautiful,” Kiyoomi says upon seeing him, sarcasm laced in his voice.

Atsumu feels like shit, and he probably looks it, too. Though he didn’t end up pulling an all nighter, he didn’t exactly get a _ton_ of sleep, either. He takes a seat at their kitchen table and rests his head down, not really trying to keep himself awake.

“Eat. You’ll regret it if you don’t,” Kiyoomi says, placing a large bowl of oatmeal with various berries in front of Atsumu. 

“I don’t wanna go,” Atsumu says groggily.

“Yes, you do.”

“Yes, I do.” Atsumu isn’t fooling anyone. No matter how tired he may be, he’d never skip a volleyball game for the world. He loves it too much.

They don’t talk anymore about the coming out plan over breakfast. They also don’t talk about the picture, which has, thankfully, started dying down. By just ignoring it, most of the general public has done the same, but it’s still causing quite a buzz in the volleyball community. There’s also a good chance that an interviewer will bring it up after the game. 

Anxiety starts to creep up in Atsumu’s sleepy mind as he eats his breakfast. No, he has to ignore it, needs to squash it down. He has to keep a clear head for the game.

“Try not to think about it,” Kiyoomi says, looking up from sipping his tea. “I know it’ll be hard, but even if it’s just a practice game, it’s still an official scrimmage. This will help set the tone for the actual season. We really should pull out a win on this one, and we can’t do that if our setter is all wigged out.”

“Aw, Omi,” Atsumu says. He stares at Kiyoomi’s hands as they lower the teacup. Normally, Atsumu would have a cup of tea himself in the mornings, but the adrenaline of game day alongside his anxiety about everything going down is enough to have him fully awake. “Are you saying I’m the most valuable player?”

Kiyoomi rolls his eyes. “One of them, yes. Can’t have a good team without a good setter, and we’ve hardly practiced with our second string one.” Kiyoomi gets up to put his empty dishes away. When he comes back, he firmly grips Atsumu’s shoulder on his way to the bedroom. “We’re counting on you. Let’s go get changed, and we can go to the arena, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Atsumu replies, and he gets up and follows his boyfriend to the bedroom. His oatmeal is left half eaten, Atsumu unable to stomach the whole thing.

  
  
  


When they get to the arena, all eyes are on him. Atsumu feels like a rookie player at their first big match: his stomach is in knots, and he’s sweating before the game has even started. He’s not sure if he’s seeing reality or if it’s his paranoia, but he swears that even EJP Raijin are looking over at him while they’re huddled up, probably discussing his scandal rather than his gameplay.

It’s just a scrimmage, but there are still sports news staff and interviewers surrounding the sidelines. Fuck. Atsumu expected this, but it still sucks to know that during the team's timeouts, the sports narrators will probably make jokes about the nude picture more than they will about the game.

Atsumu usually likes it when all eyes are on him. He lives for it. But this is different…

  
  
  


They lose the first set. Atsumu hates losing any set, but especially the first. The first set sets the tone for the whole game, and now, the Jackals need to dig themselves out of a hole. 

Pressure, pressure, pressure. It keeps adding up. Atsumu wants so badly to play well, wants to give the media something else to talk about besides his leaked picture. It’s hard, though, when you know everyone is watching, everyone is talking about you.

In the second set, he fumbles a few serves. His first serve is completely out, and his second doesn’t have as much force behind it as normal. On the third rotation, he looks to Omi for support, who words ‘focus’, to him, and right at the fifth second, Atsumu serves the ball. His first service ace of the day. Nice.

One service ace gives Atsumu some much needed confidence. His sets so far in the game haven’t been bad, not at all, but they’re certainly getting more precise now that he’s in the groove. His blocks are steadier, too.

The Jackals take the second set.

The third and fourth set unfold the same way as the first and second: Raijin take the third, Jackals takes the fourth. It’s to be expected of two division 1 teams playing against each other, especially in these circumstances: both teams are fresh out of practice season and hungry for a win against another team, neither one more motivated than the other.

The adrenaline is so high in Atsumu’s body for the final set, he completely forgets why he was nervous at all. There aren’t any thoughts of his leaked picture, his fallen through plans of coming out, or even his romantic relationship with Kiyoomi, in his brain; he’s solely focused on volleyball. He’s delivering precise sets, serving multiple service aces, and even fooling the other team with a couple setter dumps. He’s on fire now. He’s doing exactly what he came here to do: give the media something else to talk about.

When set and game point rolls around, it’s Kiyoomi’s serve. Atsumu stands at the front, looking through the net at the Raijin's libero, who is the most likely player out of everyone on Raijin to receive one of Kiyoomi’s serves.

He also just so happens to be his boyfriend's cousin. Somehow, before Kiyoomi’s five seconds are up, Atsumu manages to think a lot about Komori Motoya.

Komori Motoya, the only person in Kiyoomi’s family that he’s really close with. 

Atsumu and Kiyoomi discussed marriage one night while Kiyoomi was away, right before Atsumu sent his infamous nude. Kiyoomi talked about his desire to take the Miya name if they got married. He’d officially be a part of the Miya family.

Then, Komori would be Atsumu’s cousin in law, and he could invite him to family dinners. He could have Komori teach him all about what Kiyoomi was like when he was younger, show him baby pictures, all the things Kiyoomi won’t do himself.

Huh, he could really have a future with Kiyoomi. One that involved more than just the two of them. One that involved each other’s families.

One that was known to everyone.

Atsumu is so lost in his own mind that he doesn’t hear the ball when it gets served by Kiyoomi behind him; he doesn’t hear it when it lands on the other side of the court, untouched, either, but boy, does he _see_ it. He sees the way it lands right next to Komori.

All of a sudden, he can hear again. Applause. Not from the crowd, of course, since there aren’t any spectators for practice games, but from Coach Foster and all of the benched players. From the staff of the sports news staff. From the interviewers.

Atsumu’s happy. He’s so, so happy. Though a pretty unimportant game in its own right, the game is important to Atsumu: he’ll remember this scrimmage as the day he realized how much he wants to stay with Kiyoomi, forever.

There’s nothing else to think about at this point. Atsumu wants to go public, wants to make it known that he’s dating Sakusa Kiyoomi. He turns around, eyes up his boyfriend where he hasn’t moved from his serve, and walks towards him with a purpose. He stops right in front of him, firmly places his hands on each cheek, and kisses Kiyoomi, firmly, on the lips, for the first time ever in public.

It’s silent on the court, save for a few gasps. When he pulls back from Kiyoomi, releasing them both from the kiss. Kiyoomi looks at him in awe, eyes wide, before breaking out into a smile.

Atsumu turns around to face Komori on the other side of the court and waves. Komori looks like he’s seen a ghost, but… in the best way? He looks spooked, but at the same time, he’s dawning the biggest smile Atsumu thinks he’s ever seen. He’s the first family member to know. Then, he turns to the reporters on the sidelines.

“I’m ready to make a statement about the nude.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this little thing I wrote in like two days :)
> 
> come hang with me on twitter @bokusaku!


End file.
